


the quick sly fox

by siojo



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Based on the Legend of Kitsune Wives, Kitsune Hanzo Shimada, M/M, Pre-Slash, college professor au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 02:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12572172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: Hanzo knows what he is getting himself into, he's not stupid, and he knows that if he chooses wrong then one day, he will be left with nothing but the memory of someone that he loved and lost.Jesse McCree doesn't know what he is beyond a college professor with a helpless crush.





	the quick sly fox

**Author's Note:**

> i fail at monster mash? like this isn't even my original plan? but have a short fic.

Hanzo blinks one eye open, watching quietly as the light moves closer to the antechamber, the glow too bright for the simple torch of the last treasure hunter that had seeked out his lair for what he had hidden away. It grows brighter as the intruder turns the corner, stepping around the last of the broken rocks and pausing to push the hat on their head back far enough to read over the inscriptions on the wall, carved deep enough that they had barely begun to fade even now.

 

“Only understand half o’ this,” The human states, pulling a device from their clothing. It does something, flashing bright lights and continuing to do so as the human keeps going, moving closer to where Hanzo is laying, unmoving. “You’re mighty fierce lookin’.”

 

Hanzo studies the human, who studies him in return, the hat strange and obviously foreign in nature, just as the rest of his outfit looks strange to Hanzo. It looks nothing like the robes and uniforms that he remembers from the last time he ventured beyond the mountain that he made his home, but perhaps he has been sleeping too long again. He has heard that enough times from Genji when he has been awake to hear his brother complain about how he should experience the world outside.

 

"A kitsune, I think is what you are. Ain't seen much of you in my searchin' but I ain't a folklorist like some o' the others seem ta think. Some people call ya guardians but don't remember hearin' much about ya guardin' treasure."

 

Hanzo wants to correct the human, to insist that the human is wrong and that kitsune are just as good at guarding as any mere human could be, but he doesn't know what this mortal is planning with the treasure yet and it's best to continue to be a statue in the man's eyes for now. When he's figured out what is going to happen then, and only then, will Hanzo decide what to do with the mortal.

 

"Reyes said that there's lots o' legends about you marrying men and being forced to leave them when they find out that you're a kitsune. Mostly cause they were stupid and didn't listen ta ya when ya said not ta do something," He adds.

 

That is a legend that Hanzo has heard too many times himself, one that was often repeated because it was the danger of falling in love with a human. That one day they might not listen to the demands and would betray your love, forcing you to leave them and the family you had made.

 

"It's late," The man yawns. "Ah," Hanzo wonders if that was suppose to be an 'I'. "Suppose I can set up camp for the night and continue exploring tomorrow. Maybe I'll be able to see more when I'm more awake."

 

Hanzo watches him set up his sleeping roll, the item unrolling and looking far too soft to be anything like the ones that Hanzo used when he had traveled at Genji's behest before now, dropping onto it and digging out something wrapped in a crinkling material that he ate happily, humming to himself.

 

He waits in silence for a long time until he's sure that the man is asleep before allowing himself to change shapes, sliding into the human shape that he felt most comfortable in, the long hair feeling as strange as the human hands after so many years as a fox with only four paws and tails.

 

"Human," Hanzo whispers into the darkness, eyes still picking out all the different places in the darkness where it was impossible to walk without being spotted. "Human are you going to awaken?" His voice cracks and Hanzo tilts his head pulling his yokai closer, easing a single flame to a finger tip as he taps the human's forehead. "Human."

 

Glazed eyes blink at him, controlled by magic and yokai both, "Yes?"

 

"What is your name, human?"

 

"Jesse."

 

Hanzo leans closer, watching the human, Jesse, "And why are you here?"

 

"To research the treasure. I don't want to steal it, but I want to see it and I want to share it with others. So that they can see what it looks like."

 

"How do you share it? Do you take it from the caves and then travel with it?" Hanzo demands. "Sell it to the highest bidder?"

 

The human blinks slowly as if slipping from Hanzo's spell, creature blood from someone in his family tree, "I was contracted by a museum in Japan, from Kyoto. They hired me to search for the treasure and, if I find it, they would get to keep it."

 

"This museum, what will they do with it?"

 

"Put it on display. They'll show it to people, sometimes they will rent it to other places, but in the end it will always return there."

 

That's something to think about, Hanzo decides, something to think on because it means that there isn’t someone going to hord his things and keep them for himself  
  


* * *

 

Genji tilts his head to the side as he looks at the man that had charmed his brother from the cave that he had been hidden away in for centuries, tail twitching in thought, “What happens if he finds out what you are? You know the rules.”

 

“I know,” Hanzo states calmly, smoothing his hands over his shirt, the clothing so different from what it had been almost a century ago, the last time he had wandered from his cave and explored the world at large. “I know the rules as well as you do, but there isn’t any other way.”

 

“Because he is human.”

 

Hanzo ducks his head, “Because I was a fool of a fox and a human stole my heart.”

 

“Literally or figuratively?” Genji asks, his voice shaking softly in the silence of the cave that had once been so full of treasures. “If he finds out what you are then you have to leave him and you can never see him again. If he ever sees you-”

 

“It’s figurative, no human can steal a heart. Not the way that a creature can, but I know the rules better than you do. Do you not remember that I was the one that reminded you of them when you went after your priest? And then again when you went to befriend that medic?”

 

“Those weren’t romantic and I still haven’t been found out,” Genji returns. “I won’t be hurt the same way when they find out and I have to leave them. I’m not going to try and earn their love. Not going to try and marry them, Hanzo. You think that it’s smart to go that far?”

 

Hanzo hums, “I don’t know. I do know that it’s not the option that I would normally pick and I think that for once in my life, I want to do something that I would never have done before. Something that I would never have chosen before this. And he’s that choice.”

 

“You could start smaller, start with going into the town and getting ice cream or a job.”

 

“I’ll do those things too,” Hanzo promises, picking up the bag of things he had gotten from a kappa that had been able to get him paperwork and an identity in this new world. Including a degree in Ancient Japanese History, after he had proven he could pass the courses. “He’s kind and polite and he’s all those things that I had thought were gone. I want to try.”

 

“You’re a fool.”

 

“I always have been. Will you come with me, I know you have been telling people about me in the world out there. I’m sure that they’ll be pleased to meet me. I’m applying to the college he teaches at, I have an interview.”

 

Genji sighs, “That’s stalking.”

 

“I’m not following him. He told me where he works and that they don’t have a professor for a course that I am qualified to teach, I didn’t get myself hired there, just a chance.”

 

“A kitsune’s luck.”

 

Hanzo smirks, eyes bright, “A kitsune’s skill too.”

 

“You know that one day, he’ll find out. Jesse McCree is a smart man, he might play the fool, but he’s a smart man. He’s found treasures lost for years now, he’s going to notice things. You’ll have to tell him something if you make it that far.”

 

“I don’t suppose that I can use what our aunt told our uncle then?” Hanzo says stepping out of the apartment that he had been renting and blinking at the sunlight. “It’s been too many years for that to be believed.”

 

“A few years too many,” Genji agrees with a laugh before he sighs. “Hanzo.”

 

“You’re too late to stop me.”

 

Genji sighs again, “I’m not going to, I wish you luck and happy hunting.”

* * *

 

Jesse groans leaning back in his chair and pinching the bridge of his nose, “I know that I’ve said this before, but I’m this close to making it against the rules to handwrite papers in my class.”

 

“You mean that you haven’t?” Angela laughs sitting on the edge of the table. “I’m pretty sure that even Reyes has banned handwritten papers in his class for the sake of his eyes. This is a college, McCree, you can do that.”

 

“Shut up, I can see you laughing at me,” Jesse scowls pointing at Fareeha. “Shut your mouth before I tell your mom about our trip to Mexico last spring.”

 

Ana looks interested as she peers at the two of them from over the top of her coffee cup, “The dig you were both on with Gabriel?”

 

“No,” Fareeha answers instantly in denial. “What dig?”

 

“That doesn’t sound suspicious at all,” Ana states raising an eyebrow. “I suppose I should ask Gabe what he knows, maybe call a few people to put the pieces together.”

 

“Nice going, McCree.”

 

“You started this, Justice.”

 

Fareeha throws her hands up in defeat, “You need to let that nickname go, I’m an adult. I don’t deserve to have you calling me the same nickname that you used when I was three now.”

 

“But it’s adorable,” Jesse teases.

 

“It is cute,” Angela adds.

 

“What are you even doing here?” Fareeha demands. “I thought you had a shift at the hospital?”

 

“Genji’s reclusive brother got a job here and they’re going to be showing him around today. I didn’t want to miss out on welcoming him here. So I traded my evening shift for a morning shift,” Angela answers pouring herself another cup of coffee. “I’m going to meet him and then go home to collapse on my bed for hours.”

 

“Genji’s got a brother?” Jesse asks curiously.

 

Ana nods, “Genji’s the younger from what I understand, apparently they’re fairly even though they don’t see each other that often.”

 

“And this is the break room for the history de-,” Gabriel pauses, “Angela, why are you breaking into the history department again?”

 

“Checking that Fareeha and McCree haven’t had too much coffee,” Angela answers sipping her own cup. “They’re only on their third. Ana’s on her seventh.”

 

Gabriel sighs, “This is the break room for the history department. This is Ana Amari, she’s the head of the Department. Ana, this is Hanzo Shimada, the new teacher for Ancient Japan.”

 

“A pleasure to meet you,” Ana smiles brightly. “I’m hear that you’re quite the expert in your field.”

 

Hanzo smiles and Jesse swallows, slamming his cup down harder than he had been planning, “Thank you, I have heard the same thing about you, Dr. Amari.”

 

“Oh, just Ana in the break room. I get enough of Dr. Amari from the students, Mr. Shimada. It’s nice to meet you, I’m sure that we’ll get along well.”

 

“Hanzo. If I can call you Ana, you might as well call me, Hanzo.”

 

“This is Fareeha Amari, she focuses on Egyptian history-”

 

Fareeha interrupts, “But I minored in Middle Eastern history. Nice to meet you, Shimada.”

 

“You as well, Amari?”

 

“My daughter,” Ana confirms. “Gabe hired her while I was on a dig. You can imagine the confusion that two professor Amaris can cause.”

 

Hanzo smiles, “I can. It sounds like it would be fun. You can call me by my first name as well, Amari.”

 

“Fareeha.”

 

“Fareeha.”

 

Gabriel shakes his head, “And then we have Jesse McCree, who’s focus is suppose to be-”

 

“Mexican history with a bit of a overlap into South America,” Jesse answers offering his hand to Hanzo and almost knocking over his mug. “But I keep stumbling into what Gabe labels treasure hunting.”

 

“I read about your newest find,” Hanzo says smiling back at him. “It’s amazing, I had read about it for years, you know, the treasure but there wasn’t a hint of the location in anything I had read. How did you find it?”

 

“A lot of luck,” Jesse admits embarrassed.

 

Hanzo nods, “And then to make sure it stayed in Japan, I hear you were very insistent about it remaining in the country?”

 

“Well, it’s Japan’s history,” Jesse says slowly.

 

“Thank you, it’s nice to see, a country keeping the treasure that was found within it’s borders,” Hanzo smiles again and Jesse wonders what about it is making his heart beat so fast. “I look forward to working with you.”

 

“You too.”

 

“And this is Angela, she doesn’t actually work for the college, but you’ll see her around. She’s a doctor at the nearby hospital.”

 

Hanzo nods, “A pleasure, Genji’s told me all about you.”

 

“He’s mentioned you too,” She says slowly.

 

“And if you’ll excuse us, we have the rest of the school to go and see,” Gabriel states, ushering Hanzo out the room.

 

Jesse waits a long moment before dropping his head to table and groaning. Ana pats his head in comfort, humming into her coffee.

 

“I’m sunk, darlin’.”

 

“You were sunk the moment he walked in the door,” Ana states without remorse. “We both know it.”

 

Fareeha laughs, “Oh man, I haven’t seen you get this bad over someone since high school, I can’t wait to see how it plays out.”

 

“He might not even like me!”

 

“He likes you,” Angela states smirking over the top of her coffee cup. “You might have missed it, but the rest of us didn’t. It’s going to fun seeing you fail, we’ve never seen something like you fail before Jesse. We might not know what you are just yet, but you’ve been blessed by enough gods that it’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

 

Jesse glares at her for a moment before sighing, “I hate ya’ll. Lord, I don’t know how to get a date.”

 

“It’s okay, I’ll teach you all my tricks,” Fareeha promises.

 

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”


End file.
